Have you ever been watching a movie and wondered what would happen if
you could change how the characters behaved? Have you ever wished you
could? If so, "Point Of View" will be a must-see for you. In "Point Of
View," your own attitudes and emotions determine the development of the
storyline in this tense psychological thriller.

This is the second fully-interactive movie designed exclusively for DVD
by writer/director David Wheeler and designer/producer Rob Landeros,
aka Aftermath Media (if those names sound familiar, you may remember
them from hit computer games like "Seventh Guest" and "11th Hour"). The
first was 1998’s award-winning "Tender Loving Care," starring John
Hurt; "Point Of View" is their latest effort, following a move to
Vancouver and teaming up with Digital Circus Entertainment.

The structure of the movie is similar to that employed for the first
time in "TLC," but significantly simplified. As "TLC "is the only other
real reference for this type of entertainment, I will refer to it
throughout this review.

Both "TLC" and "POV" consist of a series of chapters (12 in the case of
"POV"), and the playing of each is followed by an on-screen
questionnaire, the answers to which determine what scenes will make up
the following chapter. "TLC" followed each chapter with an "exit poll,"
containing questions related to the action, then an opportunity to
explore the locations in which the action occurs and read otherwise
hidden material, followed by another questionnaire taking the form of a
psychological test which developed a viewer profile, which was also
used to direct the choice of the story’s direction.

"POV" has the same general structure, but here the "interactive
interludes" between each chapter give you five options: "Explore"
allows you to examine certain personal effects and other material
(often slightly amusing) by choosing them from a menu (in "TLC," you
had to hunt around the house for them), while "Encounters" allows you
to choose face-to-face interactions with the characters, who will tell
you some of their innermost thoughts about the developing situation (in
"TLC," you came across them spontaneously – and occasionally – as you
wandered into different rooms). "Review" permits the viewing of
chapters you have already covered (but not ones you haven’t – you can’t
skip ahead in the story), while "Resume" plays the next chapter and
"Quit" takes you through a "game saving" process to give you a set of
numbers and letters if you want to leave the movie and return to the
same point (and the same storyline) in the future.

While "TLC" starred John Hurt and a small group of actors culled
largely from soap operas, "POV," shot entirely on location in
Vancouver, uses high-quality local talent. "TLC" was a psychological
drama in which the viewer was invited to "assist" a psychiatrist (Hurt)
in solving the mystery of what happened in a traumatized family. "POV"
is more of a thriller, involving obsession, art, eroticism, fantasy and
murder, and instead of the rural Oregon setting of "TLC," the action
takes place in urban Vancouver. Local musicians Payton Rule and
jefreejon, who appear briefly in the movie as themselves, provide
appropriate music throughout.

Jane (a very appropriately attractive Stephanie Von Pfetten) is a
beautiful artist who watches her neighbor, a musician named Frank
(Chris Bradford) and takes photographs of him, creating composite
paintings of the two of them together. Her life is also entwined with
that of her friend Mary, who is carrying on a relationship through the
personal ads in the local newspaper. From this basis, an increasingly
complex storyline develops as we learn more about the characters and
the things hidden in their pasts, along with their motivations and
thought processes. The storyline is built from our own attitudes and
our opinion of the behavior of the characters, not just chapter by
chapter, but scene by scene.

In common, I am sure, with most people, I have only seen one version of
the movie. The thing to do, once you’ve watched it, is to try it on
your friends and see what movie you get with their choices instead of
your own. With "TLC," the result was a surprise. In "POV," there are at
least three different endings and an enormous number of alternate
scenes.

It took me a little under three hours (on my own) to view the chapters,
complete the questionnaires, and explore the additional inter-chapter
material – way quicker than "TLC," which I viewed over a period of a
couple of weeks. In "TLC," it was virtually impossible to work out how
the questions were used in forming the storyline, and the inter-chapter
process is quite time-consuming. In "POV," it is faster and you get a
quicker start in forming an idea of how it all works, the process
itself being much more streamlined.

I spoke to the guy who programmed "TLC" soon after it came out. From
his description the programming structure was enormously complicated.
Very likely the company researched reaction to their initial effort and
found that many viewers found all the interactivity a bit too complex
and time-consuming, so they decided to simplify it and make the
background materials easier to access. "POV" is more restrained in some
other areas, too: "TLC" included nudity (if you answered some questions
in a particular way) but "POV" just has "mature themes" – although
these themes are dealt with in a sensitive way that avoids much need
for explicit presentation.

As in "TLC," the questions range from deep to humorous or inane, and
some of them are frustrating because the answer you would really like
to give is not available. But where "TLC" included a number of general
questions that took the form of basic psychological profile-building,
all the "POV" questions seem to have some evident relevance to the
action, even when they appear to focus on more general topics.

Where "TLC" was shot on 35mm, and thus had a distinctly "filmic" look,
"POV" was shot on digital Betacam (sometimes with video artifacts
visible on-screen, unfortunately), giving the film-makers much more
flexibility in scenes requiring low lighting, and the ability to shoot
the mass of footage required for the alternate scenes without breaking
the bank. As a result, it tends to look a bit more soap opera-like in
initial visuals. Do not allow appearances to fool you: the production
as a whole is much more art-house than daytime TV. The actors are not
as well known as those in "TLC," but the casting is excellent and they
play their parts extremely well, particular in the handling of the
dynamic between Jane and Frank, with an effective buildup of sexual
tension during the course of the movie. The fact that each chapter is
built from a number of scenes – some of them only a few seconds long –
that are assembled essentially on the fly means that there is a lot of
cross-fading in and out, and you may see slight pauses on occasion as
your machine finds the next scene, but this does not disturb viewing.

Very likely this movie will be more popular than Aftermath’s previous
effort. "TLC" won many awards for its innovations in DVD programming,
authoring and design, and as a result "POV" will no doubt pick up sales
from people like myself who were enthralled by the ingenuity of its
predecessor. The edgy urban plot deals with real issues of alienation,
beauty, privacy, sexuality and power – and our own emotional and moral
attitudes to them; the music is contemporary and appropriate; and you
are drawn into the characters and your feelings about them as these
very feelings and attitudes shape the movie that unfolds before your
eyes. Like its predecessor, "POV" is an outstanding, innovative
landmark in the development of the DVD medium.

If you enjoyed "TLC," you may enjoy "Point Of View" even more. I would
encourage you to experience both, although "TLC" requires rather more
effort on the part of the viewer than the present offering. The disc
also contains a trailer and a fascinating "making of" documentary –
which you should avoid seeing for as long as possible, as it contains
several spoilers. "POV" may not be available everywhere, but it is
available from Amazon.com, as is its predecessor, and you can obtain
both from aftermathmedia.com. You’ll be glad you did.

This is the second fully-interactive movie designed exclusively for DVD
by writer/director David Wheeler and designer/producer Rob Landeros,
aka Aftermath Media (if those names sound familiar, you may remember
them from hit computer games like "Seventh Guest" and "11th Hour"). The
first was 1998’s award-winning "Tender Loving Care," starring John
Hurt; "Point Of View" is their latest effort, following a move to
Vancouver and teaming up with Digital Circus Entertainment.

The structure of the movie is similar to that employed for the first
time in "TLC," but significantly simplified. As "TLC "is the only other
real reference for this type of entertainment, I will refer to it
throughout this review.

Both "TLC" and "POV" consist of a series of chapters (12 in the case of
"POV"), and the playing of each is followed by an on-screen
questionnaire, the answers to which determine what scenes will make up
the following chapter. "TLC" followed each chapter with an "exit poll,"
containing questions related to the action, then an opportunity to
explore the locations in which the action occurs and read otherwise
hidden material, followed by another questionnaire taking the form of a
psychological test which developed a viewer profile, which was also
used to direct the choice of the story’s direction.

"POV" has the same general structure, but here the "interactive
interludes" between each chapter give you five options: "Explore"
allows you to examine certain personal effects and other material
(often slightly amusing) by choosing them from a menu (in "TLC," you
had to hunt around the house for them), while "Encounters" allows you
to choose face-to-face interactions with the characters, who will tell
you some of their innermost thoughts about the developing situation (in
"TLC," you came across them spontaneously – and occasionally – as you
wandered into different rooms). "Review" permits the viewing of
chapters you have already covered (but not ones you haven’t – you can’t
skip ahead in the story), while "Resume" plays the next chapter and
"Quit" takes you through a "game saving" process to give you a set of
numbers and letters if you want to leave the movie and return to the
same point (and the same storyline) in the future.

While "TLC" starred John Hurt and a small group of actors culled
largely from soap operas, "POV," shot entirely on location in
Vancouver, uses high-quality local talent. "TLC" was a psychological
drama in which the viewer was invited to "assist" a psychiatrist (Hurt)
in solving the mystery of what happened in a traumatized family. "POV"
is more of a thriller, involving obsession, art, eroticism, fantasy and
murder, and instead of the rural Oregon setting of "TLC," the action
takes place in urban Vancouver. Local musicians Payton Rule and
jefreejon, who appear briefly in the movie as themselves, provide
appropriate music throughout.

Jane (a very appropriately attractive Stephanie Von Pfetten) is a
beautiful artist who watches her neighbor, a musician named Frank
(Chris Bradford) and takes photographs of him, creating composite
paintings of the two of them together. Her life is also entwined with
that of her friend Mary, who is carrying on a relationship through the
personal ads in the local newspaper. From this basis, an increasingly
complex storyline develops as we learn more about the characters and
the things hidden in their pasts, along with their motivations and
thought processes. The storyline is built from our own attitudes and
our opinion of the behavior of the characters, not just chapter by
chapter, but scene by scene.

In common, I am sure, with most people, I have only seen one version of
the movie. The thing to do, once you’ve watched it, is to try it on
your friends and see what movie you get with their choices instead of
your own. With "TLC," the result was a surprise. In "POV," there are at
least three different endings and an enormous number of alternate
scenes.

It took me a little under three hours (on my own) to view the chapters,
complete the questionnaires, and explore the additional inter-chapter
material – way quicker than "TLC," which I viewed over a period of a
couple of weeks. In "TLC," it was virtually impossible to work out how
the questions were used in forming the storyline, and the inter-chapter
process is quite time-consuming. In "POV," it is faster and you get a
quicker start in forming an idea of how it all works, the process
itself being much more streamlined.

I spoke to the guy who programmed "TLC" soon after it came out. From
his description the programming structure was enormously complicated.
Very likely the company researched reaction to their initial effort and
found that many viewers found all the interactivity a bit too complex
and time-consuming, so they decided to simplify it and make the
background materials easier to access. "POV" is more restrained in some
other areas, too: "TLC" included nudity (if you answered some questions
in a particular way) but "POV" just has "mature themes" – although
these themes are dealt with in a sensitive way that avoids much need
for explicit presentation.

As in "TLC," the questions range from deep to humorous or inane, and
some of them are frustrating because the answer you would really like
to give is not available. But where "TLC" included a number of general
questions that took the form of basic psychological profile-building,
all the "POV" questions seem to have some evident relevance to the
action, even when they appear to focus on more general topics.

Where "TLC" was shot on 35mm, and thus had a distinctly "filmic" look,
"POV" was shot on digital Betacam (sometimes with video artifacts
visible on-screen, unfortunately), giving the film-makers much more
flexibility in scenes requiring low lighting, and the ability to shoot
the mass of footage required for the alternate scenes without breaking
the bank. As a result, it tends to look a bit more soap opera-like in
initial visuals. Do not allow appearances to fool you: the production
as a whole is much more art-house than daytime TV. The actors are not
as well known as those in "TLC," but the casting is excellent and they
play their parts extremely well, particular in the handling of the
dynamic between Jane and Frank, with an effective buildup of sexual
tension during the course of the movie. The fact that each chapter is
built from a number of scenes – some of them only a few seconds long –
that are assembled essentially on the fly means that there is a lot of
cross-fading in and out, and you may see slight pauses on occasion as
your machine finds the next scene, but this does not disturb viewing.

Very likely this movie will be more popular than Aftermath’s previous
effort. "TLC" won many awards for its innovations in DVD programming,
authoring and design, and as a result "POV" will no doubt pick up sales
from people like myself who were enthralled by the ingenuity of its
predecessor. The edgy urban plot deals with real issues of alienation,
beauty, privacy, sexuality and power – and our own emotional and moral
attitudes to them; the music is contemporary and appropriate; and you
are drawn into the characters and your feelings about them as these
very feelings and attitudes shape the movie that unfolds before your
eyes. Like its predecessor, "POV" is an outstanding, innovative
landmark in the development of the DVD medium.

If you enjoyed "TLC," you may enjoy "Point Of View" even more. I would
encourage you to experience both, although "TLC" requires rather more
effort on the part of the viewer than the present offering. The disc
also contains a trailer and a fascinating "making of" documentary –
which you should avoid seeing for as long as possible, as it contains
several spoilers. "POV" may not be available everywhere, but it is
available from Amazon.com, as is its predecessor, and you can obtain
both from aftermathmedia.com. You’ll be glad you did.